Tale Blossoms
by loagt
Summary: Sakura has a problem. Her village is gone, and no matter where she goes, predators seem to be looking for their prey. Sakura-Multi fic. Rated T for now, but the rating could go up as the story continues.


Hello! My name is Darby and I'm new to Naruto fanfiction. This is my first story, I hope you enjoy!

Please R&R(Read and Review)!

 **DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I would have put in some more SasuSaku moments.**

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Prologue - Hansel and Gretel

It was a chilly night. The stars shined brightly, and if seen in a certain angle, the constellation Orion could be seen peeking out between the trees. Sakura Haruno stood over the fortress ledge, gazing up at the sky and drawing imaginary lines across the stars. She was supposed to be on guard duty, but hardly anything happened in the small village under the mountains. She assumed that it was ok to relax and enjoy the night view.

Sakura sat down, dropped her spear and took her helmet off. She let out a sigh of relief. That helmet was so stuffy and tight, it made her sweat even when she wasn't in action. Sakura's pink hair flipped in the wind and her sweat dried up, giving her the chills. She shrugged it off and started to hum and look at the stars again. She had just found the constellation 'Mr. Squiggly Guy (She made it up)' when her stomach started to growl.

Sakura decided that it was about time she had a midnight snack. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small package of rice balls, made by her mother. Although it was hard to pull out the rice balls from her pocket without damaging it under her armor, they thankfully came out unharmed. It would have been sad to eat rice balls that weren't so nice and ball-ish because she would have had to eat it with a spoon, and she did not have at the moment. After washing her hands with a water canteen, she grabbed a ball and bit into the rice.

Sakura was in complete bliss as her tongue savored the spicy stir-fried kimchi and tuna hidden in the core of the balls of rice. Everything seemed to taste better when kimchi was involved! Her mother was truly the best cook in the village of Mendota. She made a mental note to thank her mother once her shift was over.

As Sakura continued to eat, she tried to ignore the growing pain inside her mouth as the spice made itself known. A little spice wasn't making her back down! But when Sakura couldn't fight it back anymore, she gasped, breathing heavily and reached her hand out for her water canteen. Unfortunately, it had been emptied out a while ago when she used it to wash her hands.

When Sakura realized her situation, she panicked. The fire inside wasn't going out, no matter how much she fanned her mouth. She stood up, her eyes darting left and right in search for a water source. When she found no such thing, she wanted to scream. _Why wasn't there one! Single! Lousy! W_ _ater fountain in the fortress?!_

Just when Sakura started to consider sticking her tongue on the cold stone wall (What? It looked clean enough!), she felt a tap on the back from behind her.

Sakura turned around and gasped -there was a man with an orange pumpkin for a head!

It turned out that it wasn't a real pumpkin, though. Sakura realized that it just looked like one because of the tears running out of her eyes. Speaking of tears, her mouth was still on fire and her eyes and nose were running like crazy. She gave Mr. Pumpkin a pleading look. Unable to think straight, Sakura rambled out whatever she could.

"Give please WATER!"

Mr. Pumpkin stood there for a moment. Sakura assumed that he was staring at her unusual behavior and face(?). Sakura regretted waiting till the spice was unbearable. Now she felt like a retarded fire breathing dragon making a fool out of herself in front of a stranger. Pumpkin-head probably thought that she was a mental hospital escapee. Sakura's face burned as much as her mouth did.

Pumpkin reached inside his cloak -it had nice swirly clouds on it- and pulled out a water canteen. Just when Sakura reached up for it, he snatched it away. She gave him a bewildered look. Pumpkin tipped his mask in a playful way.

"Tobi will give Pinky-chan water if you tell him her name!"

"Saku-Sakura! Pleasaneewader!"

"Sakura?"

"Yes!"

Tobi gave her the canteen. Sakura grabbed it and gulped it down. She gasped out in relief. If she had to bear the pain any longer, she would have passed out. Feeling all good and refreshed, she gave Tobi a smile.

" Thank you so much! If you hadn't given me the water, I don't want to imagine what would have happened!"

" Sakura-chan's welcome! If she doesn't mind, can flower-chan give a rice ball to Tobi?"

Sakura thought it strange for Tobi to talk in third person. It was ok with Sakura, though. After all, he helped her. Sakura gave him a rice ball.

" Of course. Be careful, though, or else you'll end up like me!"

" It's ok, Tobi's good at eating spicy things!"

 _There he goes again, third personizing every sentence he speaks._

"Really? You're lucky. You get to eat spicy stuff without feeling much pain." Sakura picked up a rice ball and started to nibble on the edge. "I love spicy stuff, but I'm not good at eating them."

"Tobi wasn't good at eating spicy stuff too! He just got used to it."

"Huh..."

Sakura was going to make a comment about that, but then she realized something..."Hey, wait, what are you doing in the city borders?" Sakura gulped. "You're not an outsider, are you?"

"Tobi's an outsider! And he's going to destroy your village!" Sakura breath hitched. _Why was he so cheerful and natural about it?!_ Sakura pulled out a kunai and changed her position so that Tobi was between her and the fortress ledge. Sakura pointed the kunai so that it was right below his mask.

"It's ok, flower-chan gave Tobi her delicious rice balls, so he's not going to kill her!"

 _?!_

Suddenly, Sakura found herself in Tobi's place, trapped between the ledge and invader. She looked back, over the ledge. It looked like a long way down. Maybe if she jumped over... no. That would be suicide. She fixed her gaze back to Tobi.

"Why do you want to destroy the village?"

"Because" Tobi put his hand on her shoulder. "In Mendota there's ... ... ..."

Before he finished his sentence, Tobi shoved Sakura over the ledge. Sakura plummetted down.

'What a stupid way to die.'

As she fell, she looked up, pink hair was whipping around her face. Through the strands of her pastel colored hair, the last thing she saw was a blood red orb with hypnotizing black swirls staring at her.

Her world faded black.

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Aaaaand that's it! I really hope you enjoyed the prologue! If you're wondering why it was named Hansel and Gretel, you'll find out later in the story^^.

You'll have to excuse me for my grammar and mistakes etc. I'm not _that_ good at English, and you'll be surprised about my age!(ㅠ_ㅠ)

Dokdo neun uri ddang~!


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